Gardens
Open to the Public

There are thousands of
gardens across the UK. Many of these are open to the public and have become
tourist attractions for visitors to spend their time enjoying and obtaining
ideas for their own gardens back home. Our lists of Gardens in England, Wales and
Scotland has over a thousand entries. Because of the
large number we have also split this list into gardens by county so that you can
have a better chance of finding something to visit.
See
here for list index.

Gardens and Gardening has
always been an English passion, some for decoration initially and to
show status like that of the large estates. An example of this is Blenheim
Palace garden who employed Capability Brown to create a magnificent large
garden including boating lake, monuments, rose gardens, statuettes, formal and
woodland landscapes.

A wider range of people had
practical gardens that provided fruit and vegetables and sustenance either in
the small back garden or in a local allotment. Then there are the public open
spaces like city parks and gardens which may have originally been designed for
the good of public health, but today offer an outside haven for everyone.
Gardens provide enjoyment, work and are a living environment.

There are also many
passionate gardeners across the UK who like to manage their own back garden,
whether it be for food or for flowers or a combination of both, they enjoy their
work and like to enjoy the fruits of their labours on a summer afternoon sitting
or entertaining in the garden amongst the fragrant smells. Many of these take
part in local competitions and events to show off their gardens to the local
community and beyond.

There are also those who like
to take part in schemes throughout the UK where they can open up their gardens
for public viewing and at the same time raise money for charity.

The National Garden Scheme

This
scheme covers England and Wales is run by the
National
Garden Scheme.
Most of the 3,700 gardens are
privately owned, some open as part of a group which gets the whole community
involved and many of these only open just a few times a year specifically for
this scheme. The others are those gardens which open to the public on a regular
or commercial basis, but they also kindly contribute to the scheme on specific
days. The NGS has
been operating the scheme since 1927 and over the last 10 years has raised over £25 million.
They support nursing, caring and gardening charities that help people who
are ill or under stress. Each year, in February, they publish the Yellow Book
which lists all the gardens taking part by county, giving details of opening
times and what you may be able to see. Money raised from sales of the book go
into the charity funds. You can use their GardenFinder,
to search for gardens within a postcode area.

Scotland's Garden Scheme

A
similar scheme is also run in Scotland and has been running since 1931 and like
the National (English and Welsh) scheme raises funds for charity by facilitating
the opening of large and small gardens of interest throughout Scotland to the
public. They also publish a 'Scotland's Gardens' book annually listing all the
gardens taking part, details of what you can see, admission charges and
directions on how to find them. See their website at
www.scotlandsgardens.org
for more details and to search for a garden you can visit.

British Red Cross Open Gardens Scheme

The
British Red Cross also has an Open Gardens Scheme. Open Gardens offers a rare
opportunity to explore the secrets of hidden and private gardens not usually
open to the public from March to October. The programme has a list of gardens
of all shapes and sizes throughout the UK.
This link will take you to their
website.

There
appear to be a number of local open garden schemes also around the UK, a search
of the internet for Open Gardens may find others that are of interest to you.